Colthrop Paper Mill

Colthrop Paper Mill is a former paper mill in Colthrop on the outskirts of Thatcham. There has been a mill on the site since the Saxon times but more recently it was England’s largest paper mill. It shut down in 1970 and was later demolished or converted for other uses. The small parts that remain are fascinating as they still have some machinery, pipe line and the controls. There is a small paper pulp mixing building, a large water tower (no ladder so inaccessible), a huge mixing vat (FULL OF WATER AND DEEP), a large iron tower that luckily has a ladder that you can climb (you can go right to the top and the views are amazing!), an old portacabin office building (the floors are rotten) and an old burnt out shipping container. Access to this place is easy: you have to walk down the canal from Thatcham Station. Keep going until you see a large concrete water tower on your left. The entrance is a hole in the green fence.

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